Judge dismisses lawsuit accusing Trump campaign of Russia collusion

July 4 (UPI) — A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Tuesday that accused the President Donald Trump‘s 2016 campaign of colluding with the Russian government to hack the Democratic National Committee’s emails.

The lawsuit was filed last year by two major DNC donors — Roy Cockrum and Eric Schoenberg — and former DNC staffer Scott Comer, who accused Trump and his former adviser, Roger Stone, of engaging in a conspiracy with unidentified Russian agents and WikiLeaks to publish hacked the hacked emails in July 2016.

But U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle said the case had no merit and the plaintiffs “have not brought, nor could they bring, a viable claim to hold defendants liable for” election conspiracy.

“The Trump Campaign’s efforts to elect President Trump in D.C. are not suit-related contacts for those efforts did not involve acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracies to disseminate emails that harmed plaintiffs,” Huvelle wrote. “Campaign meetings, canvassing voters, and other regular business activities of a political campaign do not constitute activities related to the conspiracies alleged in the complaint.”

Huvelle added that her decision is based on the accusations as they pertain to her jurisdiction of Washington, D.C. and that she takes no position on the actual merits of those accusations.

“It bears emphasizing that this Court’s ruling is not based on a finding that there was no collusion between defendants and Russia during the 2016 presidential election,” Huvelle wrote.

The lawsuit is separate from another ongoing lawsuit filed in April by the DNC itself, which accuses Trump campaign officials of similar deeds.